Subcontractor wins fight to get back its gear

The screech and hammer of tools returned to a Mainzeal
construction site yesterday - but only as subcontractors were
finally allowed to remove their equipment.

Scaffolding company Camelspace has begun removing about
$500,000 worth of its equipment from the Hobson Gardens
apartment complex in central Auckland.

On Saturday, police were called and building owners issued
scaffolders with a trespass notice, but later that night a
deal was struck.

Camelspace co-owner Phil McConchie said the delay and extra
labour involved in removing the scaffolding would cost about
$50,000. That was on top of the more than $300,000 Mainzeal
owed him when the country's third-largest construction
company went into receivership last Wednesday.

"This deal we've brokered is we are basically going to strip
both towers down to level four. That would equate to probably
about half of [the scaffolding].

"This gear we got out [yesterday], that's enough to feed us,
if you like - enough to deliver to our clients as promised."

Yesterday, a security guard outside the buildings said she
was there to stop other contractors entering without
permission.

Owners and tenants of the two-tower 97-unit block at 205-215
Hobson St have been left in limbo over when the leaky
buildings will be fixed.

Mainzeal built the blocks 15 years ago and was also the
contractor to fix them. Negotiations over the repairs were
protracted and at one stage were heading to the High Court at
Auckland but were settled in advance.

Defects were expected to cost up to $20 million to fix,
making it one of New Zealand's most expensive leaky blocks.

Yesterday, Ezra Whall, a bartender who rents an apartment,
said it was hugely disappointing to see the scaffolding come
down.

The 19-year-old had been told the repairs would be finished
by April.

Mr McConchie told the Herald he was "absolutely gutted" for
the residents.

"When there is finally light at the end of the tunnel - their
building is going to be fixed - Mainzeal go bust and leave it
80 per cent done.

"I'm pleased we were able to leave [scaffolding] for a couple
of weeks, to allow them to get some temporary weather
tighteners on the still-exposed floors."